The Confrontation in The Hospital Corridor
by UST-HP
Summary: Angela's best friend is hurting and she thinks that it's all Booth's fault, but maybe she doesn't know the whole story. And apparently neither does Booth.  Set in Season 6.  Sorry for the delay, but yes I do plan to complete the story soon. Just have  an RL deadline to meet first.
1. Chapter 1

Angela stormed out of the hospital room with fire in her eyes. Booth knew that he soon would be subjected to the full force of that rage and, more importantly, he was convinced that he fully deserved it. Bones should have been safe in the lab. There hadn't even been a legitimate reason to bring her along today save for the fact that he missed her. These days, the only way he could get her to spend time with him was if work was involved.

While Booth was more than willing to accept Angela's wrath, he had to make sure of one thing first. "How is she?" he rushed to ask before the pregnant artist could begin her tirade.

Angela flashed Booth a puzzled frown. Since Booth had arrived at the hospital with Brennan, Angela had expected him to stay on top of things and to keep himself informed on Brennan's status. 'Does Booth really care so little about Bren now?' she wondered dejectedly. 'I mean he can't even take more than a cursory interest in her well-being.'

Seeing her look, Booth felt the need to offer an explanation. "She kicked me out of the room before I could find out anything." He knew that he could probably have squeezed information out of the medical staff, but he felt like that would have been an invasion of Bones' privacy especially considering the desperation with which she'd asked him to leave the room as soon as the doctor came in to speak to her. It hurt to realize that Bones didn't fully trust him anymore. Certain bits of information, certain parts of her life, were now clearly off limits to him.

Booth figured asking Angela would be okay. Surely, there couldn't be anything wrong with asking a friend how a mutual friend was doing? Besides, Bones had probably briefed the artist on what she could tell him as well as what she shouldn't. Even if that weren't the case, at this point he was just too desperate to know how Bones was doing. "Will Bones be okay?" he asked again.


	2. Chapter 2

"Will Bones be okay?" he asked again.

###

Angela's expression softened a little and she proceeded to give him a brief rundown of Brennan's medical condition. "The doctor wants to keep her here for observation, but she should be able to go home in a few days," she reassured him before she turned fierce again. "But Booth, from now on Bren stays in the lab!"

Booth could feel the opportunity to spend any time with Bones slipping away, but her safety had to come first. Anything else would be selfish on his part. "I know, Angela. I'll talk to Bones about cutting back on fieldwork." He was already running through scenarios in his head and assessing how risky they were. Chasing down an armed suspect: out of the question. Interrogation at the bureau headquarters: controlled environment, okay…

Now Angela was incredulous. "Talk about cutting back! That's all you plan to do? No, she's staying in the lab!" she shouted.

Booth was a bit thrown by Angela's reaction. Bones had been in greater danger several times in the past, but he'd never seen Angela this upset about it before. He wouldn't dare say it out loud, but Booth thought that pregnancy was turning Angela into quite the mama bear. The problem with that was that Bones was anything but a defenseless cub. Somehow Angela seemed to have forgotten that Dr. Temperance Brennan was a strong, independent woman and Booth tried to remind her of that fact. "Ange, you know how Bones is. I can't force her to do anything she doesn't want," he tried to reason with her.

Instead of calming Angela, Booth's response only incensed her more. "Really, Booth? Really? Bren was lucky today, but what if it had played out differently? I know things have changed between the two of you. Maybe you just don't care about her anymore and I realize that you don't want to rock the boat with Hannah, but this isn't just about you and Bren anymore! I would have at least expected you to care about your child!"

"My child! What does this have to do with Parker?" Booth asked in confusion. Then the pieces finally fell into place. Angela wasn't talking about Parker. "Bones is pregnant? With my baby?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry, it's taken so long to update.**

"Bones is pregnant? With my baby?"

###

"Oh!" Angela squeaked as realization dawned on her and her anger deflated somewhat. Why hadn't Brennan warned her that she still hadn't told Booth? Maybe she'd figured that Booth would have left by now? After all, even Angela was surprised that he'd hung around this long considering how little interest he'd shown in Brennan and her welfare as of late.

And yet, Booth telling her that Brennan had kicked him out of the room as soon as the doctor arrived should have been clue enough.

This was awkward, really awkward. Scratch that, awkward couldn't even begin to describe this situation and yet, Angela knew that things would get even worse once it was time for her to face her best friend. She could claim that she hadn't meant to let the news slip - heat of the moment and all that - but if she were to be really honest with herself, she would have to admit that on some level she had made a conscious decision. Yes, betraying a friend's confidence was bad, but Angela was convinced - no, she knew! - that she was doing the right thing in this case.

Ever since Brennan had told her about the pregnancy, Angela had tried to convince her friend to finally come clean with Booth. In fact, Angela had been surprised that Brennan had chosen to share the news with her first. Then again, she could understand her friend's unwillingness to open up to Booth. After all, the guy was being an ass.

That was actually what was stopping Angela's anger at Booth from dissipating completely.


	4. Chapter 4

**Received a review today which prompted me to check the file for this story and I thought this part was ready for posting. Will go over the rest of the file and post that as well over the next few days.**

"I'm sorry, Booth. I thought she'd told you by now."

"I would have been there for her and I would never have taken her out in the field if I'd known Bones was pregnant, Angela," Booth said sadly. Bones hadn't wanted him to know. That's why she'd needed him to leave the room when the doctor arrived.

"I realize that now. I'm sorry that I thought the worst of you, Booth, but I couldn't help feeling for my best friend when I thought that you'd pretty much abandoned her."

"It's alright, Ange. You're a good friend," Booth reassured her before venting his own frustration. "I just wish Bones had told me. I mean, I gave her permission, but I thought she would have at least given me a heads up before she actually used my stuff, you know..."

"Booth!" Angela raised her voice to get his attention before continuing "Bren didn't get inseminated."

"But Bones and I…we never…" and then the protest died on his lips as he remembered…their mad dash to his apartment…the frenzied kissing and disrobing as soon as they were behind closed doors… the reverence with which he'd removed the dark bra and panties that contrasted with her creamy skin…the sensation of finally being inside her…years of pent up passion unleashed…the way her eyes had darkened as she neared climax...the joy and contentment he'd felt when his own release had come…talking as they held each other afterwards.


	5. Chapter 5

"I thought it was just a dream," he half-whispered.

Angela remained silent, but the raised eyebrows, narrowed eyes and tight lips said plenty.

Booth couldn't blame Angela. He knew it sounded like a cop out and that she would need convincing. "It was the night after we solved the Farber case."

_It had been a grueling case, one that for a long time had seemed more hopelessly unsolvable than usual. Hannah had been away on assignment, so he and Bones had headed to Founding Fathers for their ritual post-case celebration. The tequila flowed freely that night. After all, they had numerous missed post-case celebrations to make up for and somehow one thing had led to another…_

"There was a lot of tequila involved."

Angela almost lunged at him. "Are you chalking this up to a drunken mistake?" she demanded.

"No, it wasn't like that!" The sincerity in Booth's voice mollified Angela somewhat. "It's just …I woke up the next morning, hung over and alone. No Bones, no sign that she'd ever been there. I figured it was just ano-," he corrected himself, "a dream."

Booth's little slip hadn't escaped Angela. While she again remained silent, she did cock an eyebrow and smirk.

**This is the part where I got stuck before because it strains believability, but it was actually the original plot idea.**


	6. Chapter 6

Booth's little slip hadn't escaped Angela. While she again remained silent, she did cock an eyebrow and smirk.

###

This time, however, Booth failed to notice Angela's expression. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts.

_He remembered waking up that morning, hoping to find Bones in bed beside him. Instead, he'd found himself alone, drenched in sweat and suffering from the mother of all headaches. His first instinct had been to go look for Bones. However, after getting up as quickly as his hangover would allow, he decided that he needed a little time to clear his head before their "morning after" talk. He knew he wanted to be with her, but he also knew that had to be careful or he might just end up scaring her away. So he jumped in the shower to wash off the sweat and alcohol fumes and while he was at it, he stripped the sheets from the bed and popped them in the washer as well._

_A few minutes later, he discovered that Bones wasn't there. Neither was the trail of clothes he'd expected to find between the front door and his bedroom. A second look at the bedroom revealed no trace of Bones either. _

_He plopped down on the couch feeling dejected. It certainly hadn't been the first time he'd dreamt of Bones over the years. He was a hot-blooded male after all, he rationalized. Yet, this dream had been so real, so vivid. Then the guilt set in. What was he doing having sex dreams about his partner when he had a live-in girlfriend? So he resolved to quit thinking about it and didn't even stop to ponder why he thought the dream was such a betrayal when it hadn't even occurred to him to feel guilty when he'd thought the dream was real._

_Booth fell asleep on the couch and was awoken by Hannah when she arrived a few hours later. When he went to unload the washer, he spotted his clothes from the previous day in the hamper. He felt an urge to check if he could catch a whiff of Bones' perfume. "Stop it, Seeley!" he scolded himself before dumping the clothes into the washer to prevent further temptation. "What is wrong with me?" he muttered as he shook his head, "Sniffing clothes?"_


End file.
